You can't be a beekeeper without doing your homework. McDonald has been reading up on bees to prepare for the new colonies.

Bees. These important pollinators have been struggling in recent years. Their populations have been declining. It’s a cause of concern for anyone who cares about the flowering plants bees help fertilize.

Karen McDonald is not one to sit idly by while a fellow member of planet Earth struggles. McDonald is an educator and the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center’s outreach coordinator. This week she and Elio Cruz prepared three beehives that – come summer – will be full of the flying honey machines. Cruz is a technician at the National Museum of Natural History. He works in the museum’s O. Orkin Insect Zoo.Click to continue »